A former coworker commissioned a blanket for his nephew. After asking if he had a design in mind, he replied in typical guy fashion: “It’s for a baby. Can you make it blue and gray?”. Sure can, Sam, sure can.

I chose four skeins of yarn for this blanket–I was picturing stripes.

We had’ light blue, dark blue, soft baby blue and a variegated black/white/gray to tie it together. I’ haven’t fully embraced bold hues for baby blankets (you can’t deny there’s something cuddly about cloud blue yarn), although I do like mixing saturated colors with the typical baby palette.

It’s my way of blending compliance with creativity.

Once the yarn was selected, I got to work. I’ll tell you a secret, though: sometimes having no direction is the hardest task–all I have is yards of string to make a blanket.

After a few designs, nothing was coming out quite right so I revisited old instructions–a soft wave pattern I used for a rainbow ripple blanket a few years ago. It turned out great! The yarn creates a cozy design when striped together and I love the soft border of baby blue yarn.

Project Details: 

• Free Pattern: Crochet Ripple Afghan from Attic24
• Yarn: About 600 yards varying weight
• Hook: Size I crochet hook

The finished blanket measures 35 inches wide by 42 inches long, should be just the right size for the newborn. Afghan was packaged and mailed off today. I hope it brings many warm nights with it. Thanks for the project Sam–hope your nephew enjoys!